The art of preparing low-fat margarine substitutes and other spreads has provided a wide range of products having consistencies ranging from liquid to solid. The present invention deals with spatter control in low-fat spreads which have sufficient solids to be formed into sticks, yet which have high levels of polyunsaturated fats in their preferred forms.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,917,273, Reynolds disclosed that lecithin could be preblended with fat or added to mixtures of fat and aqueous phase during blending/emulsification in the preparation of margarine. Lecithin continues to be used at levels of 0.1 to 0.5% in most margarines due to its anti-spatter properties. It is typically added in its crude form, but there are other forms available. (Bailey's Industrial Oil and Fat Products, Vol. 3, 1985, p. 75).
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,165, Roberts discloses an emulsified food having up to 75% of an aqueous phase dispersed in a fat phase. The food, suitable as a margarine substitute, contains a water-in-oil destabilizing surfactant (such as lecithin dispersed in oil and encapsulated) which can rapidly destabilize the emulsion on contact with saliva or other aqueous liquid. The purpose for adding this agent in addition to lecithin added directly to the oil phase, is to permit the use of elevated levels of high-melting fats which prevent the margarine from slumping at room temperatures while avoiding the normal waxy mouthfeel which accompanies them. The destabilization of the water-in-oil emulsion containing these excessive solids, is said to provide a pseudo-melting character for these solid fats.
There is now on the market at least one 40% fat soft tub margarine substitute which has lecithin added to control spatter. The lecithin is added to this product as part of the oil phase prior to emulsification, as is typical for most margarine products. Attempts to add lecithin in this manner for a 40% fat stick margarine production, however, have not been successful.
It would be desirable to have a process which would enable the preparation of a stick-form margarine-type spread which, while low in fat, would not cause undue spatter when used to fry foods or otherwise subjected to high heat which would normally cause spatter.